The present invention relates to eyewear frames, and more particularly relates to a novel front frame construction for eyewear.
Eyewear styles basically include a front frame for holding one or two lenses and a pair of temples pivotally connected to either side of the front frame. The front frame may comprise more than one component, for example, bridge, brow bar, nose pad and eyewire components which are fit together to form a single front frame unit. The individual frame components may be formed of any desired material or combinations thereof (e.g., metal and plastics). There are a variety of known techniques for securing various eyewear components together. For example, in a metal front frame, it is common to form a pair of eyewires which are each split and include a groove traversing the inside edge thereof To insert a lens, the eyewire is temporarily spread apart and the beveled lens edge is inserted into the inner eyewire groove. The free ends of the eyewire are then brought together and secured, usually with a screw and barrel element called a "rim lock" in the art. In this way, the eyewire secures the lens to the front frame. A bridge element extends between and joins the eyewire pair to form a full front frame.
Combining a metal front frame with additional frame elements (e.g., a bridge which extends between the right and left eye members) formed of a different material (e.g., plastic) may be aesthetically desirable, but difficult to manufacture due to a lack of mechanical affinity between the different materials which have different rates of thermal expansion, for example. Further, eyewear must be able to withstand a variety of stresses, both mechanical and environmental in nature. It is thus very important to secure the various components of an eyewear together in a precise and mechanically reliable manner. When using two or more different materials, the manner of attaching the components together becomes even more critical due to the factors enumerated above.